How to Use refract in a Sentence

refract

verb
Definition of refractnext
  • Light is refracted when it hits water.
  • And sparkling crystal was used to refract light around the rooms.
    — Ingela Ratledge Amundson, WSJ, 21 June 2019
  • The faceted shape refracts the light in a dazzling manner.
    — Hadley Keller, House Beautiful, 4 June 2019
  • Her gold dress refracts the light over the entire room like a disco ball.
    — Jason Sheeler, Peoplemag, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Inside the box, a thin sheet of light forced the laser to change directions, or refract.
    — Popular Science, 11 Aug. 2020
  • The movie outperforms the book by a long, refracted mile.
    — Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2018
  • Sunlight refracting from the glass creates a sense of depth and reflects light into the faceted walls of the shed.
    — Barbara Sadick, WSJ, 14 Apr. 2017
  • Moreover, the Earth’s atmosphere can refract, or bend, the sun’s light.
    — Justin Grieser, Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2022
  • The light refracted against the walls seems to thrum, resonant with voices of the water echoing on the cliffs.
    — Christopher Ketcham, Harper's magazine, 24 June 2019
  • Light will reach the ruler from an object behind it, hit the lens system, and get refracted.
    — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 25 Oct. 2019
  • So, pushing it down into the mineral oil, the light didn't refract or reflect off of the rod.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 Dec. 2022
  • The atmosphere refracts, or bends, the reddish light toward the moon, which reflects it with a red glow.
    — Carlie Procell, The Courier-Journal, 25 Jan. 2024
  • The rain splintered on the ground and refracted off the bulbs adorning the trees and bushes around us, casting sparkling light that guided us through the dark paths.
    — Helen Carefoot, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2023
  • The pencil crystals refract the light to produce a ring 22 degrees away from the moon in all directions.
    — Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2013
  • When struck by sunlight, the pillars’ glossy skins refract a full rainbow of metallic hues.
    — Washington Post, 18 June 2021
  • When shallow bathymetry slows down a part of a wave, this causes the waves to refract.
    — Sally Warner, The Conversation, 3 Dec. 2020
  • The further that goes, the more the sound waves get refracted by pressure and temperature changes in the water.
    — WIRED, 20 June 2023
  • Each water droplet behaves like a small prism, refracting the light and reflecting it back to our eyes.
    — Megan Arnett, Scientific American, 26 Apr. 2018
  • There are salads and rice bowls refracted through Fire & Spice's border-town thing too.
    — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 16 Sep. 2019
  • In the case of a lunar eclipse, the sunlight that makes it around Earth passes through our atmosphere and is refracted toward the moon.
    — Shannon Schmoll, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2018
  • Sunlight refracted in pale sprays off the city’s glass, and water sluiced down drains and pipes, onto windowsills.
    — Scott Johnson, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 July 2023
  • The first telescopes were refracting telescopes that used a series of lenses to bend a larger amount of light toward the eye.
    — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 18 May 2017
  • Swift is too smart of a songwriter to have her risks blow up in her face, so even the clunkiest moments on the album are still refracted through the lens of a pro.
    — Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 10 Nov. 2017
  • The Fold display looked kinda foggy, dull, and washed out thanks, in part, to the flexible plastic refracting some of the light from the panel.
    — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 28 Feb. 2020
  • The cornea refracts light, and depending on a person’s eye shape, the way the light is refracted can cause blurriness.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 1 Apr. 2023
  • The moon itself glows dimly due to scattered and refracted light shining on it.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 19 Apr. 2018
  • The filmmakers set Franklin up in a posh chair in front of a big window with drawn shades refracting translucent skyline.
    — Matt Wake | Mwake@al.com, al, 22 Apr. 2023
  • Cold dense air, chilled by the frigid fjord water, had refracted light, bending it into a vision.
    — Longreads, 12 Mar. 2018
  • The dry air cramps stormy weather, and carries particles that refract brilliant orange and red hues as the sun rises and sets.
    — Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 18 July 2024
  • Across the ever shifting sphere: the effects of fog slowly subsuming a hillside, the sun stirring between the sea and sky, and ribbons of light refracting through shallow pools at low tide.
    — Tara Anne Dalbow, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'refract.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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